Areas to improve

As I read through the resources this week, I felt that many of the strategies were being implemented in my classroom. I have been teaching for about fifteen years in a variety of settings, grade levels, and with students of all different needs and backgrounds. I do not have ELL students this year, and we have a very low population of ELL in general, however I do teach special ed and language impaired students. While I believe I am implementing varied strategies, it is always good to be reminded of the importance and benefit of these teaching techniques.

In reading the booklet, Strategies and resources for mainstream teachers of ELLs, I realize one area that I get a little lazy on is a good strong closure, summarizing the key points of the lesson and emphasizing key vocabulary. Often I don't build in enough time to have meaningful closure but it is important to be explicit about what we learned and why.

Another area I would like to pay more attention to is the amount of teacher talk versus student talk. According to Dr. Tharp in the DVD, teachers speak 92% of the utterances in school and students only 8%. I mentioned that to my co-teacher yesterday and she laughed because our class is so talkative, but I told her I think they mean academic utterances--not social, off task talk. We use "think, pair, share" and a lot of small group instruction, but students tune out when we speak too long so it is an area we are going to focus on for the rest of this year.

I also think our school, and my co-teacher and I, do a very good job of inviting families in to help and participate. However, not everyone takes advantage of the opportunities and I realize I have not had much participation in the past from the ELL families. They do come for major events but not to help students in the classroom with work or projects. I am thinking I need to be more inclusive and resourceful with those families in particular as discussed by Dr. Garcia in the DVD on Culturally Responsive Teaching. I feel like I get to know the children very well, and need to spend more time connecting with the parents on a more personal level.

The most important lesson I have learned so far by going back to school is that reading and learning more about our craft and engaging in deeper reflection are so energizing and critical to continued growth as a teaching professional.